The Walsh family, which failed to win town approval for a bowling alley and bar on DeHart Street in Morristown, has come back with a vengeance.
A new plan would turn the 10 DeHart St. parking lot into a party pavilion, serving alcohol until 2 am for 23 nights around Thanksgiving, Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, and a “Walsh Family Celebration.”
The parking area abuts the backyard of luxury townhomes on Community Place. Residents there had raised concerns about noise from a rooftop bar proposed for the bowling alley.
David Walsh, on behalf of the Tashmoo Restaurant and Dehart Associates LLC, is asking the town council to extend Tashmoo’s liquor license with 23 one-day permits to serve beer (12-ounce containers, 16-ounce cups), wine (6- ounce cups), mixed drinks (11-ounce cups) and shots (1-ounce cups) in the parking area behind 10 DeHart St., adjacent to the rear lot of Tashmoo.
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Hours would be from 2 pm to 2 am, with the exception of March 9 — the date of the Morris County St. Patrick’s Parade in Morristown–when hours would be from 8 am to 2 pm.
The applicant–who, at $75 per permit, must pay $1,725 in application fees–promised to erect fencing around the party area. He also pledged to post two security guards at the lone entrance, guards at each emergency exit, and six guards inside the party area.
A special scanner would attempt to prevent minors from gaining entry with fake IDs. Tashmoo also would implement any measures directed by police and fire officials, according to the applications. David Walsh was unavailable for comment on Monday afternoon.
Proposed permit dates:
“Thanksgiving Celebration”: Nov. 21, 23, 24. (Thanksgiving falls on Nov. 22.)
“Christmas Celebration”: Dec. 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29.
“St. Patrick’s Celebration”: March 9, 14, 15, 16. (The Morris County St. Patrick’s Parade is March 9; St. Patrick’s Day falls on March 17, 2013.)
“Easter Celebration”: March 28, 29, 30. (Good Friday is on March 29, Easter is March 31, 2013.)
“Summer Celebration”: May 23, 24, 25. (Memorial Day is on May 27, 2013.)
“Walsh Family Celebration”: May 30, 31, June 1.
These applications may be discussed at the Oct. 23 council meeting. They follow a summer of hearings at which angry residents and business owners testified that they are fed up with late-night noise, rowdy behavior, public urination and vomiting, and litter from drunken bar patrons.
The council voted 3-2 in July to reject a request from Billy Walsh, David’s brother, to transfer a liquor license to 10 DeHart for the bowling alley/bar. The council also increased fines for public urination, to $500.
Meanwhile, the town is paying for extra police patrols around downtown bars on Friday and Saturday nights–the police chief himself had to wrestle one intoxicated patron to the pavement recently–and on Oct. 24 the council will consider public objections to a proposed expansion of another liquor license.
The Iron Bar, a South Street establishment that is not among the Walsh family’s holdings, wants to extend its license to a neighboring storefront that formerly housed the Zebu Forno restaurant.
Iron Bar partners Jimmy Cavanaugh and Darrell Remlinger envision a Mexican restaurant and bar called the Gran Cantina, which would seat about 150 people. When its basement opens, the Iron Bar will have a capacity approaching 800 patrons, and downtown bars may attract 2,000 people on busy nights, according to police estimates.
The Walsh family owns the Dark Horse Lounge, Sona Thirteen and Tashmoo, plus liquor licenses from two defunct establishments.
They probably have the licenses spread out in the family (wife, son, etc.). Seems very excessive to ask for that many days. Maybe they are just trying to ask for a bunch of days knowing that it would get turned down, so they can “compromise” with their buddies on the council and cut the amount of days in half. Who party’s like that on Easter? Hopefully they clean their taps beforehand..The draft beer at tashmoo has been tasting like tashpoo for years..
When will the State Alcohol Beverage Control get involved with the blatant violation by the Walsh Family? As stated above “The Walsh family owns the Dark Horse Lounge, Sona Thirteen and Tashmoo, plus liquor licenses from two defunct establishments.” According to the ABC Handbook, “Unless a person held an interest in more than two retail licenses prior to August 3, 1962, a person may not have any interest in more than a total of two retail licenses.” By my count, they have 5.